STORY OF THE KILT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3807, 11 September 1936, Page 9

STORY OF THE KILT

THE DECAY OF A HIGHLAND INDUSTRY. (By Jennifer Neil.) The origin of the tartan is hidden in the swirling mists that cloud the dawn of Highland history. Of several theories, the one that gains most credence among historians is that tartan originated not in Scotland at all, but in Ireland. The Irish people, men and women alike, had a great love for bright colours, the Celts of old decking themselves in gay garments. Eventually the old Irish kings proclaimed as a royal prerogative the right to wear any and every colour, and relegated to the people of their realm a limited number of shades, to- be worn according to rank and status. As rank in those days depended to a large extent on profession, the colours a man and his family were permitted to wear came to be regarded as a badge of their rank and calling. Thus, foreign slaves were confined to garments of one colour, workers wore two colours, and soldiers three. Innkeepers and their women-folk, coming higher in the social scale, were allowed four colours; Chieftains of territories had five, and doctors of learning, or ollavs, were permitted six. Only those of royal blood could wear as many as seven colours at once. |At first, each class wore simultaneously a garment of each allotted colour. Soon, however, they found it was simpler and more practical to introduce the various colours into one single garment fashioned of patterned fabric. Thus was the tartan born. And for long, among the Irish, plaid patterns continued to denote the rank and profession of their wearers. CLAN AND FAMILY BADGES. |W]hen, in the fullness of time, the descendants of these ancient warriers came to Scotland as colonists, tartans came to be adopted as clan or family badges. This was due in part to the fact that different plants from which the various dyes were made grew in different districts. For instance, the hillsides yielded certain dyes to some tribes, the valleys gave others, while the river banks produced rare plants and mosses. The clans who lived near the seashore used various kinds of wrack and seaweed as dyes. So, in time, each clan evolved a pattern of its own, sometimes dictated by the natural dyes obtainable locally from herbs or seaweeds, sometimes produced by the patient skill of some expert weaver. For in those days cloth was spun, dyed, woven, and fashioned entirely by hand. The making used to be a friendly business neighbour helping neighbour. The women of the clan used to meet together in a croft in some remote Highland glen, and over their spinning wheels they would exchange the news of the day. Some of the loveliest of old Scots songs are lilts sung in primitive shielings! by the women of the Gael as they worked. You can hear in their rhythm the beat of the hand loom, the whirr of the spinning wheel as it turned. The weaving of a web of cloth took months to complete. But the day when the bolt was at last woven was a great occasion, and the mother of the household blessed it as she handed it to husband and children.

Tartan so woven lasted close on a lifetime. It had to. For men were poor and life was hard in these Highland hills.

There are various explanations of the origin of the word “tartan.” Some hold that it comes from the Gaelic word tart meaning “drought,” which, with the addition of the suffix as signifying “little drought,” or “warm and dry.” Others believe that the word is of Latin origin, coming through the French tiretaine, which is the name of a linsey-wolsey material.

THE KILT. Of the kilt, as the national dress of Scotland, we have no written record before the eleventh century. But there is in existence to-day a carving of a kilted Highlander wearing a sporran, dating without doubt from the seventh century. And we know that Magnus Barefoot, after his expedition through the Hebrides in 1093, introduced the kilt to Norway —though Norway apparently did not take kindly to the innovation! The type of dress to which the kilt belongs seems to have been worn by the men of many early communities, especially of war-like tribes who inhabited hilly countries. The ancient Romans went into battle wearing a type of kilt. The Greek soldiers of to-day still sport a pleated skirt which is more picturesque than useful, being composed of white linen! But the kilt, as known to the Scots and to the peoples of the world through Scotland’s famous regiments, evolved through many vicissitudes’ and survived many changes. By the beginning of the 17th century, the kilt, long the national dress of the Scots Highlander, had assumed two distinct forms. The first was known as the breacon-feile, or belted plaid. It consisted of one length of tartan, about 12 ells long, part of which was pleated round the lower part of the body and fastened with

a belt, the remainder being secured on the shoulder with a brooch, and falling down the back. This loose plaid could be either thrown over the shoulder in cold or wet weather, or used as a blanket when the wearer was sleeping out of doors. When it is realised that the whole garment, in those days, was unsewn, and that the “sett” of the tartan (the square design) had to be kept in place after the pleats were in place, it will be seen that the donning of the braecanfeile was a delicate business requiring considerable skill in arrangement each time it was put on. THE “FEILEADH-BEAG.” The feileadh-beag, or little kilt, resembled the modern kilt, consisting of some 6 ells of tartan pleated at the back (the pleats being sewn down at the top) and with two aprons fastening over one another in front, fastened with a pin. No plaid was worn with the feileadh-beag, which eventually became the universal dress of the Highlands, worn by chieftains and commons alike. It was an eminently practical garb for the climate and conditions generally. The wool came from the sheep in the glens, the yarn was spun in the bothies on the billsides, and dyed with local dyes. Traditional designs, recorded on sticks were handed down from generation, and from these the people wove the tartan of their (clan on hand-looms. After the rebellion of 1745, the Hanoverian Government, fearful of a fresh outbreak, tried by all means in their power to break the spirit of the stubborn Highlanders. One of the methods they adopted was the passing of a law which forbade the wearing of the kilt or tartan in the Highlands, or the first offence, the penalty was six months’ imprisonment; transportation for life was the punishment for a second transgression. But they failed in their object. It was inevitable that they should fail. Apart altogether from consideration of sentiment, it was the simple truth that many clansmen did not know how to make any other kind of cloth, and, in these days, they could not have bought any had they wanted to. The result was that many were shot at sight by English troops because they had no other clothes to wear! OLD DESIGNS LOST. By 1757, when the regulation was relaxed, few Highlanders remained who knew how to make a kilt, and many of the age-old traditional designs had been lost or forgotten. So precarious was the fate of the kilt that the Highland Society of London was formed in 1778 to encourage its adoption, and it was they who, in 1782, were instrumental in having the iniquitous Act of 1746 repealed. But the kilt, as the universal dress of the Highlands, was dead. It was revived, but only for ceremonial and special occasions. To-day, it enjoys a brief spell of glory at Highland balls and on the moors during the shooting season. Never again did the belted plaid become popular. The little kilt fas favoured in its stead. It is not always realised that people have no right to go into a shop, choose a tartan that takes their fancy, and wear it. Ethically speaking, the wearer of a tartan should have a family right to it. Indeed, Mir Pittendrigh McGillivray recently suggested that there should be a heraldry of colour, with a College of Tartans, as there is a College of Heralds, and that family tartans should be registered at the Lyon Court. Those who have no established right to a tartan of their own can, if they must have tartan, wear the Stewart of Caledonian patterns. VARIED SETTS. In the old days, each clan had several different setts of tartan the chief’s sett, worn by him and his family only; a clan sett, worn by all members of the clan; a mourning sett; and a hunting sett. This last was usually dark green in background, in order to blend with the natural colours of forest and hillside. A special hunting sett was only necessary when the clan set was brilliant in colour. Nowadays the mourning tartan has vanished, few chieftains wear their hereditary setts, and mineral dyes have replaced the soft vegetable dyes of the olden days. There are not many hand - loom weavers left. All the Royal tartans are woven in the Renfrewshire village of Kilbarchan, and William Meikle, the King’s kilt-maker, recently gave an exhibition of handloom weaving at the British Industries Fair. Fifty years ago there were 800 weavers in Kilbarchan. Now there are 10. The oldest of them, Thomas Brown, saw Meikle off on the train to London. The power looms have killed the older methods. But it is good news that the schoolmaster at Kilbarchan has started children’s classes in weaving on model looms, which are proving a great success. This may prove to be the eventual solution of the kilt-makers problem. Firms who specialise in Highland dress are in a quandary to find successors to their present kilt-makers. This is a delicate art, requiring early apprenticeship and much practice. Kilts are fashioned from one straight piece of cloth, uncut. The shaping is done by means of slight, almost infinitesimal gradations of the pleats which run from waist to knee. The

fit and hang of the kilt depend on accurate measurement and, what is more difficult to find, a natural instinct trained to perfection. All the Army tartan is woven in ‘ the Border tweed factories, and a certain number of men are trained as kilt-makers in the Army, but the supply by no means meets the demand, and, if the kilt returns to fa- I vour as is prophesied, the shortage of skilled workers will become accute. Already there are signs of great popularity in Scotland and elsewhere, and it may be that the kilt may once more become the na- j tional dress of Scotland.